John Jay Hoffman delivers speech at New Jersey Supreme Court nomination announcement
June 10, 2024
Comments as delivered
Governor, thank you for your incredibly warm introduction. Thank you for this incredible opportunity and thank you for being patient with me on Friday when you asked me the question every New Jersey lawyer dreams of being asked, and it took me about 30 seconds to verbalize an answer. I appreciate it incredibly.
I usually don’t get caught up in words like that, but this time I do, I can only remember it once before. She was in Rockefeller Center, she had a diamond in her hand and the most wonderful woman in the world in front of me, and nothing came out of my mouth. So, that seemed to work well, but I appreciate that you heard the roar in my silence.
Parimal, thank you for guiding me through this incredibly mysterious process. Thank you for your class, your professionalism. Thank you for the budding friendship we have developed over the last few years. You are an incredible credit to this Administration.
Lieutenant Governor, we spoke, you said some beautiful words that I appreciate, but the last word you said and the words we spoke very briefly together are the ones that resonate with me, and that is a blessing. We are all incredibly blessed to be in the positions we are in, and thank you for recognizing that and thank you for reinforcing that. I feel incredibly blessed today.
Senate President Scutari, we have been having conversations for decades about difficult issues and issues. You have always been a classmate in many ways. We have been honest with each other, we have debated issues, but you have represented collegiality and you have represented what it means to be a true legislator in the state of New Jersey. Thank you very much for that.
I would also like to thank the Judicial Advisory Panel that I was able to meet with. Why, they’re a hot bank, I tell you, and they should be and they better be. And they pushed and poked and poked as they should. And it was an honor to have the opportunity to sit before them.
This is an incredibly humbling time in my life. I, preparing for this moment, Governor, watched Judge Fasciale’s presentation. And you read a quote in Judge Fasciale’s introduction in the New York Times, and it had to do with the State Supreme Court, the imprimatur, the power, the incredible success that our Supreme Court has had and the reputation that it has built. through Supreme Court Icons.
I am fortunate to have learned from many of the justices who have served on our Supreme Court. My first interview for a job in New Jersey, and my first boss, was Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, who, from my perspective, has done an incredible job presiding over a court of brilliant, dedicated justices who set the standard for what anyone should aspire to. be if they come to this court.
But it didn’t start there. I knew the wisdom and genius of Robert Wilentz, and perhaps I didn’t appreciate it very much at the time, because he was sitting at dinner with my mother and my father with his wife, and I was in my pajamas carrying some kind of animal from teddy. But you could tell that this guy was very, very intelligent. And my father told me that he is very, very intelligent. See, he was my father’s mentor.
I also know what it’s like to endure the rigor of a blistering interrogation from Barry Albin. You see, I got it when he was 19, and it was never easy then, and what a phenomenal judge Judge Albin has been.
I have had the benefit and fortune of learning from many judges who have taught me what it is and what it is like to be a wonderful judge, a true judge. I clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit for Al Engle. Al Engle was a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for 18 years, but he spent a year and a half as a trial judge, but he never stopped being a trial judge. And he would sit me down at his desk and present a legal matter to him, which would go to the United States Court of Appeals and he would say, “Stop! Tell me who the parties are, who is affected by this, who is affected?” I still remember him saying, “I don’t want to know the what or the why until you tell me the who.” He said: “Justice, John, is not about our words or our books, it is about people. Never forget the impact on each and every one of them.”
But I would say that from a judge’s perspective, to be a Supreme Court justice, the best role model I ever had didn’t wear a black robe, but instead taught me every day about integrity, hard work, decision, justice, respect, character, humanity. Thanks Dad. I have learned from the best and will always strive to be better. Let me tell you something, I don’t approach a podium like this without you.
I know Mom would be incredibly proud. I know Mom’s watching us right now, and I know that in some kind of weird ghost movie, Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze, somehow tightened my tie while I was walking here, that he made sure my shoes were shined last night. .
The irony is not lost on me that the seat we are talking about here, the seat in question, belongs to my second boss in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Lee Solomon, Judge Solomon, who served on this court with incredible dignity and with incredible respect. and incredible grace, and may that seat open on your birthday, dad.
I have tried to follow these principles that I have learned throughout my career, as a trial attorney in the Department of Justice, as a federal prosecutor in New Jersey, in the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, where I followed who I would describe as the example unrepeatable of Senator Chiesa, my friend, my confidant, my brother in many ways.
And I worked these past few years at Rutgers, where I worked under a president who steered a steadfast, principled ship through a series of unimaginable storms.
And at his side is Senator Bramnick, who has been a wonderful friend, a fantastic mentor, and a brilliant legislator for decades. Thank you, Senator Bramnick, for everything he has done for me. Thank you very much for everything he does for my family and the state of New Jersey.
Nancy Brannegan, thank you for standing by my father and ours over the last decade, with so much love and support.
My sister is here to join us, my best friend for life. My mother-in-law and father-in-law, who have been wonderful in-laws but also brought me the greatest gift of my life. That’s my wife.
You better hold your ground, okay? So, focus here. So, Mary Jude, you have given so much of yourself so that I could feed my soul and quench my thirst to return this crazy state of ours. Everyone owes you a debt of gratitude. I owe you all the love in my heart.
Mags, to my daughter, who is defiant and exceptional. You always make me dance, physically, spiritually and emotionally. Thank you, above all, for not wearing your Converse sneakers this morning.
Johnny, who is simply my son, the best person who has ever lived, who has taught me that there is no insurmountable obstacle and that everything can be conquered with faith, with spirit and with love.
Governor, when we sat in your office, at the end you asked me in answering my question: “What do you think a Supreme Court justice should be like?” You said, “Well, John, do you mind if I use a baseball analogy?” I said, “No, of course, I’m a sports fan. “I may sound like a nerd, but I’m a sports fan.” And you said, “Well, I think a great Supreme Court justice should be an umpire, and a great Supreme Court justice should really know how to call balls and strikes and be strong enough to do it.”
And I said, you know, that’s funny, because that reminds me of something, it reminds me of when I walked out of the Attorney General’s office and I received a photograph from my friend Elie Honig, who was the Chief of the Criminal Division. And in that picture, he said, John, we want you to hang on the wall the same quote that you told us every day in the office, and that quote was “just call it halfway.”
If this works – and God willing, it will if we have the blessings we have – I promise you, Governor, that I will do one, I will continue to call you in the middle, and that two, I will never forget. which is one of us from New Jersey standing at home plate. Thank you.
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